Chapter 196: Position
Hua Changxi disliked interfering too much in others’ affairs, but thinking of her long-standing friendship with Pharmacist Xu, she still asked about Xu Ling’s situation, “Uncle Xu, is Lingling still helping you at the apothecary shop?”
Pharmacist Xu’s eyes flickered slightly, and he smiled and nodded, not saying anything more.
Seeing this, Hua Changxi tentatively said, “I haven’t seen Lingling in a long time. I’ll find a time to visit your shop and talk to her.”
Pharmacist Xu let out an “Ah,” then chuckled awkwardly, “Lingling usually goes out for experience. I’m afraid she won’t be there when you visit.”
Hua Changxi looked surprised upon hearing this, “Going out for experience?! Where does Lingling usually go for experience? I can never find a place to go for experience myself.”
Currently, the Spiritual Energy Revival had only been in the public eye for less than two years. Before this, any ruins, secret realms, or mountains rich in spiritual energy that were discovered were monopolized by the Royal Family, nobles, and noble families, making them completely inaccessible to ordinary people.
After embarking on the path of cultivation, her experience was severely lacking. Besides her disinclination to go out and her tendency to work in isolation, there was also the reason of not knowing where to gain experience.
Pharmacist Xu hesitated for a moment before saying, “Most of the time she goes to Qingzhou Five Finger Mountain. Do you know Five Finger Mountain? It’s open to cultivators, and ordinary people can also enter to seek opportunities. Lingling loves going there.”
Hua Changxi: “Five Finger Mountain, I know it. It’s indeed a good place for experience. If Lingling goes to Five Finger Mountain again in the future, I can accompany her.”
Pharmacist Xu chuckled and didn’t respond, instead changing the subject, “By the way, Jiu Niang, I came here not only to bring you tea, but also to talk to you about Qihuang Hall.”
Seeing Pharmacist Xu change the subject about Xu Ling again, Hua Changxi couldn’t be bothered to ask further, “What about Qihuang Hall?”
Pharmacist Xu: “Doesn’t each hall have to submit thirty bottles of First Rank Elixirs every month? You were away in November, and the hall couldn’t produce the elixirs, so I took the spiritual medicine and spiritual plants allocated to our hall and exchanged them with Alchemist Zhou, whom I know, for thirty bottles of First Rank Elixirs to submit.”
Hua Changxi nodded, “You did very well.”
Pharmacist Xu: “Jiu Niang, the spiritual medicine and spiritual plants allocated to each hall by the higher-ups are only enough to refine sixty batches of First Rank Pills. This means that the higher-ups require each Qihuang Hall to have a success rate of over fifty percent in alchemy. If the failure rate exceeds half, they have to supply the spiritual medicine themselves.”
“According to the rules of the Medical Affairs Department, engaging an alchemist to refine pills requires additional payment. Generally, three portions of spiritual medicine are given to refine one batch of pills. Therefore, our hall now owes Alchemist Zhou thirty portions of spiritual medicine.”
Hua Changxi listened and asked curiously, “Have the other Qihuang Halls submitted their elixirs in full?”
Pharmacist Xu nodded, “They all have.”
Hua Changxi fell silent. After taking over Number Thirteen Qihuang Hall, she had only seen the allocated medicine children and knew nothing else. She couldn’t help but ask, “There are eighteen Qihuang Halls. Do you know the hall master of each hall, and the situation of the medicine children in each hall?”
Pharmacist Xu smiled, “You trust me so much to hand over Number Thirteen Qihuang Hall to me to manage. I naturally have to inquire about these matters.”
“The hall master of Number One Qihuang Hall is Department Head Gu’s third disciple, Mu Qingying. All eight of her medicine children are pharmacists from the Medical Affairs Department, and two of them are said to be able to refine pills, though they haven’t successfully refined an elixir yet.”
“The hall master of Number Two Qihuang Hall is Department Head Gu’s eldest disciple, Xie An. The eight medicine children were all pharmacists from Second Street and Third Street, and they all know how to refine pills.”
“The hall master of Number Three Qihuang Hall is Huo Yunxiao, sent by the Heavenly Department Minister; the hall master of Number Four Qihuang Hall is Wen Lanzhou, the eldest disciple of Master Zhang of the Celestial Master’s Mansion; the hall master of Number Five Qihuang Hall is Yan Qianying, the third young master of Prince Dong’an’s Estate. All the medicine children they allocated know how to refine pills.”
“The hall master of Number Six Qihuang Hall is Yuan Tianchou, a disciple of Department Head Gu. All eight medicine children are pharmacists, and it’s said that four of them have already started refining pills.”
“The hall master of Number Seven Qihuang Hall is Master Jie Xian from Xiangguo Temple; the hall master of Number Eight Qihuang Hall is Lin Ruohong, the eldest disciple of the Sect Leader of Sanqing Palace; the hall master of Number Nine Qihuang Hall is Tang Yufeng, the eldest grandson of the Tang Family, the foremost noble family in the Capital City. Their eight medicine children also all know how to refine pills.”
“The hall master of Number Ten Qihuang Hall is Gu Jinfan, the seventh daughter of the Duke of Xin State’s Mansion. Among the eight medicine children, four know how to refine pills, and four are pharmacists.”
“The hall master of Number Eleven Qihuang Hall is Shen Qianfan from the Disciple Hall. Six of the eight medicine children are from the Disciple Hall, and two are pharmacists. It seems no one knows how to refine pills.”
“The hall master of Number Twelve Qihuang Hall is Zhu Qinghuan from the Apprentice Hall. All eight medicine children are from the Disciple Hall, and no one knows how to refine pills.”
“Number Thirteen Qihuang Hall is ours. None of the eight medicine children can refine elixirs.”
“The hall master of Number Fourteen Qihuang Hall is the Seventh Prince Chu Junhao. All eight medicine children know how to refine pills.”
“The hall master of Number Fifteen Qihuang Hall is Duan Yuyan, the sixth daughter of the Duke of Wei State’s Mansion. Among the eight medicine children, three know how to refine pills, and five are pharmacists.”
“The hall master of Number Sixteen Qihuang Hall is Yue Heng, the fifth young master of Prince Xiping’s Estate; the hall master of Number Seventeen Qihuang Hall is Feng Che, the second young master of Prince Beizhen’s Mansion; the hall master of Number Eighteen Qihuang Hall is Wei Xiao, the ninth young master of Prince Nanding’s Estate. Their medicine children also all know how to refine pills.”
After listening to Pharmacist Xu’s introduction, Hua Changxi took a deep breath. Out of the eighteen Qihuang Halls, apart from the nine people who received wooden tokens, the other nine Qihuang Halls were all divided among the noble families.
No, even those who received wooden tokens were mostly from the nobility.
The personnel arrangements for the eighteen Qihuang Halls were essentially a redistribution of power and resources.
Of course, this excludes herself from the Labor Department, Shen Qianfan from the Disciple Hall, and Zhu Qinghuan from the Apprentice Hall.
In the face of the uniformly noble family scions, the three of them were quite conspicuous.
From this small example, one can see the extent of the monopoly on resources by noble families, as reflected in the personnel arrangements of the eighteen Qihuang Halls within the Medical Affairs Department.
Hua Changxi thought of the Artifact Saint Palace. They preferred to remain in the shadows and develop slowly rather than reveal themselves to recruit and absorb talented individuals. She hadn’t fully agreed with this approach before, but now she understood it somewhat.
The Medical Affairs Department was too deeply infiltrated by various factions!
Although the Medical Affairs Department was not Dan Sheng Hall, for Dan Sheng Hall to develop and spread alchemy techniques, it would ultimately rely on alchemists. And currently, the most skilled alchemists were all gathered in the Medical Affairs Department.
When Dan Sheng Hall appears in the future, would they be able to expel all these alchemists?
To not be controlled by the Medical Affairs Department, they would have to quickly cultivate a large number of highly skilled alchemists, but how difficult would that be?
Thinking of the future Dan Sheng Hall being constrained by various factions, and considering that Dan Sheng Hall also bore the responsibility of guarding the town’s eye, Hua Changxi’s desire to become the Lord of Dan Sheng Hall completely vanished.
For a moment, she didn’t even want to be involved with Qihuang Hall anymore.
However, having left the Hua Family, she had to find a foothold in society. She still needed the social status of a Qihuang Hall Master from the Medical Affairs Department.
In the future, she would inevitably have to interact with other cultivators. Having such an identity would help showcase her value and facilitate making connections.
Gu Xing had asked her before if she had found her place in the Medical Affairs Department.
She now had the answer: in the Medical Affairs Department, she was the Master of Hall Thirteen!
